Introduction

The 2021 Honda Civic is a small sedan or hatchback, and it's one of the most recognized names in small cars in history-even though it's no longer so small. 

This year the Honda Civic Coupe is gone and the Si has been put on a year's hiatus, leaving just the fastback sedan and cargo-enhanced hatchback. Both bring great gas mileage, safety, and a roomy cabin with excellent materials for the price. 

A redesigned Civic is planned for 2022. 

Civic sedans get a 158-horsepower 2.0-liter inline-4 connected to the front wheels through either a smooth 6-speed manual or a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT). 

The Civic hatchback gets a smaller but more powerful engine, a 1.5-liter turbo-4 making 174 horsepower. It's not only more gutsy but also more fuel-efficient than the base engine in the sedan. 

Then there's the wild Type R that's so powerful it needs track days to show what it's capable of. Its 306 horsepower can turn almost any driver into a hero. 

The Civic sedan with the CVT is EPA-rated 30 mpg city, 38 highway, 33 combined, while the Civic with the 6-speed manual transmission gets about 1 mpg less. The Civic hatchback with the turbo engine gets more than 40 mpg on the highway, and about 35 mpg combined. 

The NHTSA gives the 2020 Civic five stars in safety, while the IIHS gives it 'Good'? ratings in all its crash tests. With the available LED headlights, the Civic earns a Top Safety Pick award. 

Every Civic has automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, active lane control, and automatic high beams. 

Lineup

The Civic is sold in LX, Sport, EX, Touring (sedan), Sport Touring (hatchback), and the Type R edition. 

Starting at just over $20,000, the LX comes with a 5.0-inch audio display, power features, Bluetooth, cloth upholstery, 16-inch wheels, and one USB port. 

The Civic EX includes a 7.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, heated front seats, 17-inch wheels, dual-zone climate control, and a blind-spot camera. 

The Civic Touring and Sport Touring, from just below $30,000, adds 18-inch wheels, leather upholstery, premium audio, navigation, and heated rear seats. 

The high-performance Civic Type R, for about $38,000, comes with a lot of equipment, including suede seats, a performance-data recorder, and adaptive cruise control. 

Walkaround

The Civic sedan mimics its big brother the Accord, with a fastback outline that's executed well. It's sleek, but an excess of edges that make it less clean, especially at the busy back end. 

The sedan dips at the tail to create a small decklid, while the hatchback just keeps going. It's even busier, particularly the Sport Touring. 

Interior

The cabin is more conservative. It's engaging and useful, with lots of small storage spots. The instrument panel is organized along a wide, wing-like horizontal plane, with bands of brushed-metallic trim or glossy black plastic. The LX uses a small 5.0-inch display screen, but other models have a 7.0-inch touchscreen that breaks up the wide dash. 

The quality of the Civic's materials is good, even in the LX. Its soft plastics and matte surfaces, as well as sharp fit and finish, suggest a higher style. 

With its low dash and tall glass, the Civic gives front passengers a wide view of surroundings. The LX, Sport, and EX come with cloth seats, but the EX-L and above get leather and power front-seat adjustment. 

In the rear, the sedan's leg room is 37.4 inches, and the hatchback's is 36.0 inches.The outboard seats are sculpted, the center seat is okay for commutes but not road trips. Head room is slim because of the roofline. 

In either body style, the Civic's rear seats flip down to boost cargo space; the sedan has 15.1 cubic feet of trunk space (14.7 cubic feet in Tourings) to open up, while hatchbacks grow from 25.7 to 46.2 cubic feet. 

Outward vision isn't the best, thanks to that roofline, but it's workable. 

Driving Impression

There are three engines and two available transmissions for the Civic. The base 158-hp 2.0-liter inline-4 is a commuter special, built for efficiency not excitement. It can be made more exciting with the 6-speed manual transmission, which has a smooth and light effort. Most models will be equipped with the CVT, which demands little attention and doesn't drone on, as so many CVTs do. 

The hatchback is considerably warmer, if still not exactly hot, with its standard 174-hp 1.5-liter turbo-4 (which is optional on most of the sedans). It also gets better gas mileage than the slower base engine. There's a bit of turbo lag, but the 6-speed manual transmission overcomes that. 

Every Civic offers taut handling and communicative steering. It's a joy to thread through twisty roads-and it also rides well, especially in turbo-4 trim where fluid-filled bushings quell some ride motions without dulling its precision. 

It's better on the smaller 16- or 17-inch wheels, though. Sport and Touring models have 18-inchers that fill out its wheel wells, but transmit more bumps through the steering wheel and seats. And that's not including the Type R, which compounds the roughness. 

The Type R hatchback, with its 306-hp 2.0-liter turbo-4, manual gearbox, two-mode adaptive dampers and summer tires, is really a full-on performance car. It sizzles on the track, but isn't as well-suited to long commutes or interstate slogs. 

Summary

The 2021 Honda Civic is sophisticated if not subtle, and it's a deal in preferred trims. The stripped-down LX might have an attractive MSRP that makes the Civic look like a great bargain, but we'd choose the Civic EX for its standard equipment. For the track enthusiast, there's always the Type R, too. 

 

-by Sam Moses with driving impressions by The Car Connection.